In his day, Hugh Blair (1718-1800) was regarded as one of the country’s foremost authorities on written discourse. Born in Edinburgh, the son of a merchant, he was brought up as a Prebysterian and destined for a church career — his health did not seem to admit of anything more robust. He gained a Masters degree in moral philosophy and literature from the city’s University, and in 1741 began to practise as a clergyman in the Church of Scotland. As a preacher he was popular and respected, and in 1758 Blair was appointed to the position of Second Charge at the High Kirk of St Giles in Edinburgh; his sermons were later collected and published. A year later, he began lecturing at the University and in 1762 a Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres was created for him. He retired from the University in 1783, and published a collection of his lectures. A key figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, Blair was friends with David Hume, Thomas Carlyle and Adam Smith, as well as James Boswell and Samuel Johnson. He died at his home in Argyle Square on December 27th, 1800, having survived his wife Katherine and also their two children.
Taking the trouble to express ourselves more clearly helps us to think more clearly too.
In 1783, after serving for twenty-one years as Edinburgh University’s first Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Hugh Blair retired, and immediately published a collection of his lectures. No. XII dealt with the structure of sentences, and urged readers to take time over their sentence-making because disciplined writers make more disciplined thinkers.